Pan Post 143
In Pan Post 143 has Hermes Trismegistus, who now has the mantle of Runekeeper, is in the ziggurat of Kumari Kandam. It has been cleared of most of the water it was submerged in except for some waterways to allow merfolk and such to travel inside. A mermaid asks for her pearl back, which was in an upper room before the water was drained, and he returns it without taking his eyes off of Runekeeper's Book. She tries to get his attention but he is too engrossed so she splashes him as she leaves. The book contains more than the magical know how of the Multiverse but also secrets and knowledge. The CensorGod struck a bargain to keep the censorship secrets secret with Hermes. The book tells the creation of Forever from For Never. In the For Never there were the Old Ones who created High Angel. Then Kronos and the titans arrived and created reality from chaos and order. The Old Ones attacked the titans but High Angel, imbued with the Lightside Matrix, defeated them. From the body of one of them, Forever was created. With four of the remaining Old Ones in chains he decreed they should become the Four Horsemen. Post Sigils Stating Secrets, Part One -- The Old Ones ''Hermes Trismegistus'''' - now the Runekeeper, cosmic god over all magic in the NeSiverse - sits in a comfortable Barca-LoungerBarcalounger article, Wikipedia. on a dais within an undersea ziggurat. This ziggurat sits on the Kergulen Plateau on the sea floor, amidst the sunken ruins of the ancient queendom Kumari Kandam.'' It was here that R.I.T.E. had brought the hedrons and made way for Mega Jonestown Prime's return. Even before then, the original Runekeeper had been drawing up plans for a great cathedral to be established here. He could not build his grand temple on the site of Earth's new ultranexus in Seattle, as the Three Fates had destined Bob Roberts to live there instead. So instead, not deeming it worth the trouble it would cause him with the Three Fates to depose that destiny, the Runekeeper had settled for this undersea ziggurat, which lies on the exact opposite side of the earth from the Seattle ultranexus. The Runekeeper's schematics for this cathedral are in the great Book now chained to Hermes' wrist, and while he has not bothered to construct it, the new Runekeeper nonetheless chooses to make his new abode here in the ancient ruined ziggurat - keeping such a dangerous object as his Book far away from the prying eyes of the other Earth gods on Olympus. The rooms within the ziggurat have been magically cleared out of water, for the most part, though channels and pools remain for merfolk and such to visit. One such, a mermaid, is visiting Hermes now, head bobbing from the pool in the ziggurat's throne room. She does not wear a seashell bra - what do you think this is, a Disney movie? - but instead wears a black-censor-bar bra, which had been foisted upon her by the CensorGod once when he recently visited the new Runekeeper. Mermaid: So I left a pearl in the upper chambers somewhere before you cleared out the water. Could you be a dear and fetch it for me? Hermes is poring intently through the Book, currently on his lap, but raises his fingers and idly conjures the pearl - an unblemished, perfectly round jewel the size of a fist - into his hands, which he then telekinetically floats over to the mermaid. Hermes Trismegistus: Is that the one? Mermaid: Yes, thank you, you're a doll! Hermes Trismegistus: Mm-hmm. He has not looked up from the pages of his Book the whole time. The mermaid twists her lip. It seems impossible to garner his attention. Mermaid: Well, I suppose I'll leave for now then. Ta-ta! She waits. After a moment, Hermes' brain belatedly pokes him. Hermes Trismegistus: Mm-hmm. Mermaid: Unless you want me to stay? She says this hopefully. There is no response, so finally she sighs and dives down - making sure to splash him with a great slap of her tail on the water. Hermes and the Book are drenched. Hermes Trismegistus: Hey! But the mermaid is already gone, though he is faintly aware of her watery giggling in the distance. Fortunately, the Book is water-proof - in fact being invulnerable on such a scale that it could probably shrug off a direct blast from a powerplayer - and Hermes mutters an arcane syllable to magically dry himself off. Hermes Trismegistus: Fool woman... He grumbles this, oblivious to the mermaid's interest in him. But he has the Book to pore over. It is more than a repository of magic in the NeSiverse, though that by itself is impressive enough. It holds incredible secrets and knowledge. For instance, the Book tells when the Deep Void will end; and the identity of the Beast in the Abyss below Tartarus; and perhaps most astonishingly of all, exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll popTootsie Pop article, Wikipedia.!'' ''it was some of these secrets that the CensorGod recently visited Hermes about. The Book contains the knowledge of everything that any Censor anywhere has ever censored out. The CensorGod had a deal with the original Runekeeper to keep that forbidden knowledge secret, and had bargained with Hermes for the same. The original Runekeeper had been difficult to bribe, but Hermes even more so. Hermes had finally agreed in exchange for three favors, of a kind and at a time of his choosing, to which the CensorGod had reluctantly assented. Given the scope and scale of knowledge in the Book, Hermes is almost surprised that it doesn't purport to know a Name for the Nameless. The secrets contained within it seem far more than should be available to a minor universe like the NeSiverse. On the other hand, Highemperor and the God-Monarchs had both contributed to making the NeSiverse powerful, and this Book had been crafted by Chimaat herself and gifted directly to the old Runekeeper before Mega Jonestown Prime had originally left the NeSiverse millions of years ago. Now, Hermes reads ancient history. Rather than text, shifting diagrams upon the pages spin the tale: they directly impart visual, audial, and emotional awareness of events to him... Originally Posted by The Book Before the beginning, there is the Nameless. After the end, there is the Nameless. The Nameless is unknowable, uncategorizable. But Forever - despite its grandeur and vastness - can be known, if only barely, by minds sufficient enough. Thus Forever, in a primordial state bereft of time and form, once always existed as a nonreality, a For Never rather than For Ever, and the Nameless so was not alone. There are strange beings in this primordial Forever, this For Never, and those minds that know of them refer to them as the Old Ones. The Endless, the Faceless, and others, they were. Some postulate that the Nameless him/her/itself is an Old One, but if so, he/she/it is nonetheless a very different kind. It is difficult to describe the unexistence that is - and always never was - the For Never, or the lives of the Old Ones, but after a timeless un-age, something new spontaneously appears in the For Never. High Angel: I...am. I...exist. Who am I? Where am I? Why am I? He receives no answers, this firstborn of seraphs, and drifts purposelessly as the Old Ones eye him with interest. But having no purpose, this new High Angel does nothing, and the interest of the Old Ones begins to wane. Another timeless un-age passes, and then Kronos, firstborn of titans, appears spontaneously. Chaos - the chaos of existence and reality - exude from him, creating the other titans. The Old Ones' interest is drawn again, but then they recoil in horror as the titans exude massive chaos, filling the For Never with existence and reality, a Ginungagap that is the chaotic stew which changes For Never into Forever. The titans are born with purpose, and begin crafting, spinning chaos into order. Faceless: Who among us has created this abomination? But none of them has, just as none of them has created the High Angel. Endless: Nameless. It is he/she/it who has done this, if none of us have! And so the Old Ones declared war upon the newness, and began obliterating chaos and order alike. High Angel watches still. Should he help them? Should he help the titans? Should he help neither, or perhaps both? Kronos approaches him, a gigantic figure to the human-sized High Angel - though of course neither of them knows what a human is at this time, as that race does not exist at that point - and proffers to him a glowing ball of light. High Angel: What is this? Kronos:'' I felt the weight of a gaze upon me, and then that gaze turn upon you. Thus I knew I must create this and give it unto you. The titans are not given to introspection; they know only purpose, that of creation, and so do it. High Angel though, wonders. '''High Angel: What is this? And whose gaze is it? If titans shrugged, Kronos would have done so. Kronos: I know not whose gaze. But this is a matrix of light. It contains all the heroic energy gathered and ordered and created by myself and my brethren. Throughout all multiverses that shall ever be, wherever and whenever there is a hero, that hero shall draw from this matrix. A Lightside. It is yours. The ball of light floats to High Angel, and Kronos turns away, his task finished. High Angel still has questions, but knows Kronos cannot answer them. He studies the ball of light, the Lightside matrix, and accepts it into himself. As it suffuses him with a brilliant glow, he gasps aloud. Because purpose is now filling him. Heroically, he leaps to the defense of the titans, and of the Ginungagap that is transforming For Never into Forever. The Old Ones, though beings of incomprehensible power, cannot stay his power, for High Angel's innate strength is incredible and insurmountable, now that a purpose drives it. His strength is his own, gifted by whoever created him - the Nameless, as most speculate - but it is the Lightside that turns his strength to heroic purpose. The Old Ones are defeated, most of them killed. The titans take the corpse of the Endless and use it as a framework to contain all multiverses, an infinite boundary to Forever. The wise and learned often refer to this Old One corpse as Ourobouros. Four of the Old Ones are shackled and bound. High Angel: What shall I do with them? If titans shrugged, Kronos would have. The Old Ones seethe with anger and fury, and do not reply. It is then that High Angel experiences his second epiphany. It is widely agreed that, whenever someone is touched by what is presumably the Nameless, that someone experiences the sensation as one of seven aspects. Some experience it as a Voice, speaking to them. Others, as a Hand touching them. Still others as an Eye(s) gazing upon them. And so on. High Angel, insofar as is known, is the only one to ever experience all seven aspects at once. He hears the Voice, he feels the Hand, he sees the Eye(s). And that collective sensation tells him. He is the Nameless's herald, his/her/its champion. And he knows what to do. High Angel: Even evil has a purpose, a place. For Balance must always be kept. You four shall be heralds, riders, forerunners of apocalypse, riding in to maintain balance wherever it is needed. But it shall not be my prerogative alone to command you. Kronos! Kronos: What is it, tiny herald of that gaze I feel? High Angel: I require a masterwork. Seven masterworks. And so High Angel and all the titans create seven artifacts, that are changeable in form and size and type, depending upon the time and place they are in, and upon the viewer or wielder. High Angel imbues within them the seven aspects that have created, empowered, and commanded him, and thus these seven artifacts become the Seven Seals of the Nameless's authority... ...Just as the titans complete the first universe of the new Forever, surrounded by the infinite chaos of Ginungagap. *** NSP: I have more on some general history of the Four Horsemen and such later :) References External References Category:Post Category:Pan Post